Encompassment Of The World
Martin Cecil May 4, 1980
Action occurs in heaven and is reflected on earth. This is the easy way; no great sweat, as they say—sweat of the face, I suppose. This is spiritual government, sadly lacking on the face of the earth for a long time, now to be restored as there are those who are capable of assuming the responsibility. God has been known after a fashion by His name God Almighty, but by His name Jehovah He has not been known. Jehovah is God in action on earth by reason of human beings. This implies a state of oneness between God and those concerned. As long as God is merely seen as God Almighty there is a state of experienced separation, and that is not the truth, that experience is not real. The truth is that man was created to be one with God, not separate from God, trying to exist on his own hook. On this basis quite evidently he doesn't exist very long. So spiritual government is to be restored.
All that has occurred over the last twenty thousand years has been designed from the heavenly standpoint to allow for the restoration of man to his true state, his true state of oneness with God. Of these things we are aware. Because of such awareness as we have we are gathered here this evening in this Chapel, and others are gathered with us in spirit. We have become aware, in some measure at least, of our spiritual responsibility and would no longer deny it. We would no longer assume a false humility, which is characterized by human arrogance. Human arrogance reveals itself in the attempt by human beings to accomplish something on earth on their own hook, in a state of self-deception, a state of unreality, a state of supposed separation from God. And yet there would be no human beings at all on the face of the earth if God was not present.
So we come again to this enlightened state of consciousness where we may see and understand these things. This puts us in position to do what we are here to do. Those who are in darkness are in no such position. If we do see, at least in some measure, in the light which has resulted from the spirit of God moving on the face of the waters in us, to that extent we may do what needs to be done. There may have been a little reluctance in this regard, something of an excuse I suppose offered to the Lord by saying, “Well we need to know more; we need to see more than we see now.” All right, maybe we do, but we see enough for now. And only as the spirit of God is allowed to act on the basis of our present awareness will we be in position to see more. So it certainly isn't a matter of waiting for greater enlightenment—it will never come. It is a matter of doing what we are here to do, according to our understanding now, according to the extent of the light which is shining in our own experience now.
There are those who put much more store by darkness than they do by light. They may say, "Well there doesn't seem to be all that much light, but there is an awful lot of darkness. I don't understand this, I don't understand that; I'm confused about everything." Don't you know anything? You know something, surely. Why not be concerned with what you know?—the light—that we may act intelligently on the basis of what we do see, of what we do understand, of what we do know. Then the light increases, because the action of the spirit of God on the face of the waters increases.
The light that is present now enables us to see many things, to understand many things, that most people don't. If this is actually true and we don't do anything about it, woe to us. We have seen something of the operation of the creative cycle by reason of the four forces. If we have some understanding, we see that it is because of this that the spirit of God may have freedom to act on the face of the waters of the world of mankind, that there may be light in consequence. We may be in position to observe, by reason of what is happening in the experience of others, that something of that movement of the spirit is already occurring. There are those who are awakening, one might say. I don't mean necessarily in some religious sense, but awakening to a greater experience of common sense, that rarity on earth. It is easy to observe irrationality, madness, darkness, but is there no light? We are regaled by the media, particularly, with dramatic evidences of darkness. Let us not be hypnotized by this, as though there was nothing else. There is something else in our own experience, and because of that we are capable of observing the reality of light emerging in many places, not always in a balanced way, not always in a clear way, but nevertheless there. We need to have the capacity to comprehend this so that we don't imagine that light emerges only in one way—the way of our own emissary experience.
This is evidently fine for us, but certainly may not be necessary for the vast majority of others in whom the light may shine when we do what we are here to do; namely, to let the spirit of God move upon the face of the waters. Then there is light by which others may begin to see; to start with, seeing through a glass darkly. Didn't we? Don't we still to some extent? Let others have that right too, but rejoice in the evidences of the light present in the consciousness of human beings the world around.
We are not in position to see it all, but if we see some we may be very sure that there is actually more. In any case we trust the creative process when we do what we are here to do. And that creative process is in operation. We are quite sure that it is going to work out the way it should; there is no question. The only question is as to whether we are on the job or not. So in our living the spirit of God moves upon the face of the waters present in our environment. And let us not restrict our environment to some concept that it is only what is visible to us. As the light comes on we are in position to provide a safe place for this increased generation of light to occur in the experience of others. We may have an attitude of specific enfoldment of certain ones of whom we are aware, but we also have an attitude of overall encompassment in which all who are yielding to the movement of the spirit of God may be kept safe.
This was described by using the word “firmament,” the creation of the firmament, heaven. Our attitude of encompassment provides the heaven for all who are awakening to come into it, to be safe there, safe because our own living maintains the firmament. That is where we ourselves abide—in heaven. When there is such a firmament, and there are those who are beginning to be more greatly enlightened, then that affects their behavior in living. Here is the earth force putting in an appearance; there is a new experience in living. No longer are those concerned encased in their old ruts.
Now all this, these first three days of creation, makes it possible for the reestablishment of the dominion of God on earth in the state in which the world now finds itself. We have seen that it certainly is not a matter of saying to ourselves, “This cannot be done until someone from somewhere transforms the world.” Well maybe there is a little truth in that, but who is the “someone” from “somewhere” if we who begin to see these things do not assume the responsibility? Here we are, as angels incarnate on earth, so that the spirit of God may move upon the face of the waters of the consciousness of mankind. And the Word is indeed spoken, “Let there be light,” and there is light. And there are those who begin to see because there is light. They don't see clearly at once, of course; that is to be anticipated. We certainly don't condemn anyone because they don't see clearly at once. I doubt, if I had condemned you for not seeing clearly at once, you would be present now in the Chapel. Let the creative cycle work.
But we are aware ourselves by now that the dominion of God is to be a reality in human experience, our own in particular, even though the world is in the state that it is, even though we ourselves are keenly aware of the fact of our own earthly heredity. Maybe that awareness needn't be so keen as it has been, because we become more keenly aware of a heavenly heredity, an angelic heredity, to which we would most delightedly give expression. And when we do, here is the spirit of God moving upon the face of the waters of human consciousness in the world. We're not waiting to escape from the clutches of the devil before we can act.
We might recall the story of Moses when he went down into the land of Egypt once more to face Pharaoh. That was necessary if the children of Israel were to be brought up out of bondage. The whole scene was laid in the land of darkness, the land of slavery and bondage. It would have been useless for Moses to say to himself, “Well I'll wait here in the wilderness until somehow or other God takes care of Pharaoh so that the Israelites are no longer in bondage there in Egypt, and then I'll go in and take them out.” On that basis I wonder if they would have wanted to come out. What is to occur occurs because there are those human beings on earth who let it happen. In that instance, Moses and Aaron particularly and the Elders of Israel were in agreement, so they did something. And something happened. The happenings were not all that pleasant for a while; the unpleasantness was not only experienced by the Egyptians, for the Israelites were there too. So there was a good deal of discomfort all around. In fact it became seemingly more difficult for the Israelites; greater burdens were laid upon their backs.
Moses and Aaron faced Pharaoh, who was the ruler in that land of darkness. We can see this as correlating with that great red dragon, that old serpent the devil and satan, who was cast into the earth, which is, after all, the land of bondage presently. Earthly heredity is still the primary factor in the government of human beings. Human nature is universal in this sense; there seems to be no escape from it. And in any case, it is not a matter of escape from it; it is simply a matter of letting it pass away. When Moses and Aaron spoke to Pharaoh he was unwilling to let the people go. I think the same sort of situation prevails today: Some of the people would like to escape out of the land of oppression, the earth, somehow, but they don't know how. It all seems rather futile, simply because Pharaoh won't let them go. They remain under the thumb of human nature. And no matter what is done by human beings in the expression of human nature it achieves nothing; they are still in bondage. It seems as though the sorcerers and the magicians of Egypt—there are lots of them around in the world today, those who share the rulership of Pharaoh in the higher levels of human nature, if that is not a contradiction in terms—could do a lot seemingly, manipulate this way and that. There are some expert sorcerers and magicians around, with all the resources of the kingdom of Egypt behind them. However, it worked out that, while the magicians and sorcerers of Egypt were able to duplicate what Moses and Aaron did, they could only go just so far.
Now this is true when the human nature control is ejected from the heaven—and that ejection is a fact when the true heaven is present, because the human nature control is never in the true heaven. Obviously it is in some sort of heaven, because human beings have been thoroughly subject to human nature and have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to experience anything else: it is clearly impossible because of the unfortunate state of our genes and the unfortunate experiences through which poor human nature passes generation after generation! So everyone is thoroughly convinced that they are trapped in the land of Egypt. But we see something happening in the world now which gives much evidence that the effectiveness of the controls of human nature is in the process of dissolving. I suppose this fiasco, should I call it, of the endeavor of this great nation of the United States to free fifty hostages in Iran is an example. They couldn't do it. Strange, isn't it? We see something else also, I suppose, relative to larger outworkings, namely the USSR in trouble in Afghanistan. Just a little thing—a big nation, they should be able to get it all settled in short order. So far it hasn't happened that way.
The dragon is cast into the earth and he does a lot of thrashing around there, but it is not very effective in achieving the purposes of human nature. We can take note of a vast array of things between nations and within nations that give evidence of the absolute ineffectiveness of everything; nothing anyone does to try to solve the problems ever solves the problems. On the contrary, it creates a dozen more. We've taken note of this in the past, and we see it happening. Magicians and sorcerers of Egypt can only do just so much, and it is rather little once there begins to be an awareness of the real capacity of Jehovah. The two states cannot be compared at all.
From the standpoint of our own past experience we've seen the mightiness of Pharaoh in the land of the earth. This has occupied almost the total horizon. But now it doesn't so much, does it? We have an awareness of something more; we have a greater understanding. And while we may not mentally be able to grasp all the ins and outs of it, we don't need to, because there is a recognition that it is by the hand of the Lord, it is by the action of the spirit of God. But not just by God Almighty raining destruction out of space upon this poor little planet but by reason of the presence of Jehovah right here in action on earth, a coordinated action with what is occurring from the standpoint of spirit everywhere else in the whole universe. Is that not a larger thing than anything Pharaoh or the great red dragon could do? The futility and the meaninglessness of the worthless effort which is being put forth by those who are the sorcerers and magicians of Egypt is becoming ever plainer.
One might say that in view of all this mixed-up state, and of the possibility of all this destructiveness being unleashed in the world of human beings because of the stupidity and the irrationality of people, is it not miraculous that it has not happened? I think this is a real miracle, if we want one. And we have noted before that a miracle is the outer evidence of something happening which cannot be explained, at least not by the human mind. What is our responsibility in all this? It is the responsibility of encompassment, a level of encompassment that transcends all the supposed expertise of the sorcerers and magicians of Egypt. To the extent that there has been this encompassment so far a control has been present in the affairs of men which was not based in anything that human beings were doing. Here is our realm of responsibility. We know the futility of human nature, or we think we do. Occasionally we may forget and let our own human nature come into the picture again and start to throw its weight around. How could we ever let that happen? Let the spirit of God move upon the face of the waters so that there may be light, and so that there may be a firmament, and so that there may be the beginnings, at least, of a new state of behavior within the body of humanity, behavior that is no longer locked in so firmly under the jurisdiction of Pharaoh, in subjection to earthly heredity.
It is our responsibility to prove this truth, and only to the extent that we do it is there an actual, factual encompassment. Now there has been sufficient evidently to this hour or we wouldn't be sitting here. But as a greater intensification occurs in the world there is the need, obviously, for a greater encompassment. And this is our job, this is what we are here to do, to provide, so that there is encompassment at a higher vibratory level than can be reached by the magicians and sorcerers of Egypt. In such case these find themselves to be helpless. There is the evidence of at least the beginnings of the dominion of God on earth in the world the way it is. No, it is not accepting defeat at the hands of the devil; God is here present with us so that the real experience of Him under His name Jehovah may be known. “The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” Jehovah takes responsibility not only for the earth and the fulness thereof but for the world and they that dwell therein—all this mass of human beings in bondage in the land of Egypt and ruling in the land of Egypt. The prisoners in a jail are obviously in jail, but then so are the guards. So it is in the world: all are in bondage in the land of Egypt.
We provide the encompassment necessary so that the creative cycle can work itself out in exactly the way it should, on the basis of the four forces—water, air, earth, and finally fire. After the dominion of God is a reality in the world the way human beings have made it, then the world that human beings have made can pass away. It would certainly prove that the devil had been defeated in such case. We see this as relating to our own individual personal experience. Do we surrender to the devil when he puts in an appearance in our own human nature? Or are we true to the truth?—sharing the expression of Jehovah on earth, letting that spirit move freely upon the face of the waters of human consciousness the world around, providing a firmament for those who would come into it to be kept safe, and also providing this encompassment, of which I have been speaking, of the world and they that dwell therein, so that the hand of the Lord is on all things. And no matter how crazy human beings may seem to be at times, their craziness can only do just so much. There is the level of creative action in which the sorcerers and magicians of Egypt are quite helpless. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2020/02/we-share-voice-and-speak-word-from.html]
Increasingly we need to have an actual awareness of this in our own individual spheres of action. We become aware of it when our expression is that of the spirit of God and we never yield to the ridiculous temptations in the wilderness. We can never be fooled by these. I still see, unfortunately, many people being fooled by this in various ways; some of them, from my standpoint, quite obvious, some a little more subtle perhaps. We stand with the Lord, providing Him with dominion on earth and in the world. This we may do, obviously not in human strength or wisdom, obviously not on the basis of inflated egos, but because there is real humility and the arrogance of human nature has no hold on us anymore.
I am thankful this evening for the opportunity of speaking of these things, sharing the expression of the spirit with you, not projected at you but sharing it with you so that it may move on the face of the waters of mankind in this hour, and because we are true to the truth of our living, in every succeeding hour in all the days to come. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2018/06/my-voice-sounds-through-my-composite.html]
© emissaries of divine light
The Focus Of Enlightenment #2
Martin Cecil September 9, 1979 p.m.
Holiness to the Lord. Let His holiness, His wholeness, be made known because we live on earth.
The real state of man is the enlightened state. This was referred to as the garden experience of consciousness. This is the true state of man’s consciousness. According to his state of consciousness so is the reflection in form. This is so whether man’s experience is that of the true state or the false state. The garden state of consciousness has been lost to human experience. We called that this morning the darkened state. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2019/02/from-honorable-remnant-from-focus-of.html] In order for a change of consciousness to come a focus of the enlightened state of consciousness must emerge into expression within the darkened state of consciousness. “Let there be light.” The darkness comprehends not the light, but the light is quite aware of the darkness.
This focus of enlightened consciousness emerging into the darkened state of human consciousness initiates the creative cycle by which it may be said that all things are made new. Here is something new present within the range of that darkened state that wasn’t there before. The only way by which this focus of enlightened consciousness can so emerge is through what has before been described as the veil. The veil relates to the cherubim with the flaming sword which keeps the way of the tree of life in the garden state of consciousness. This veil has been thick darkness, establishing the darkened state of human consciousness. These clouds have been formed by reason of the impure heart. The heart of man is impure because human emotion has been subject to the earth and what have been designated in this darkened state of consciousness as the treasures of the earth. Human beings lay up for themselves treasures on earth, material treasures in the physical sense, and also of course in the mental sense. There are many human values in the darkened state which engender emotional experience in human hearts. The veil is firmly in place by reason of this. As long as this is the case there is no facility in human experience by which enlightened consciousness can be received. Human experience in the darkened state is this side of the veil, the earthly side of the veil. Enlightened consciousness is on the heavenly side of the veil.
If that enlightened consciousness is to be experienced by human beings on the earthly side of the veil it must come through the veil. The One who exemplified these things said of Himself, “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world.” The focus of enlightened consciousness comes forth into the world, but the only means of coming forth is through that veil. If the veil is maintained, thick, dense, black, there is no such coming forth. Because there was no such coming forth human beings have attempted to generate illumination in the darkness. In the comment period this morning Bill Bahan described this as “dazzling darkness”. This endeavor on the part of the human intellect is like striking a match in the dark. If you are very close to the match there is a little bit of illumination. There have been various matches illuminated in the state of human darkness, and this has been considered to be great achievement. But let us compare a match shining in the darkness to the rising of the sun on a clear day. Is there really any comparison? If you are right close to the match I guess you could still see it, but at any distance at all you wouldn’t see it; and obviously there would be no need for the match as a form of illumination.
There is a vast difference between the true state of enlightened consciousness and the little attempts in the darkened state to produce light, to make some dazzle in the darkness. Here is an indication of the real quality of stature that is present by reason of the focus of enlightened consciousness. If thick clouds are maintained, a state of darkened human consciousness remains, and while there may be an enlightened state of consciousness the other side of the clouds, there is very little awareness of what the quality of that light would be. The darkness comprehends not the light. It is only when all the clouds are dissipated that the enlightened state of consciousness can occupy the human capacity which had previously only known the darkened state.
The light comes into the world, within the range of the darkened human state of consciousness, from above. There is no way by which it may be produced from below, which is the effort that has been made in this darkened condition of human experience. “Let us generate some dazzling darkness”—what futility! If there seems to be the ability to make this attempt it is merely because a faint glow has filtered through the thick clouds from above, so that those concerned are acquainted with the possibility of light. It is still only a potential, so the human intellect gets busy and creates a match — a great and glorious achievement. “Now we’ll have light!” Of course the idea is to have such a blaze of matches, or candles, or whatever, that it can be said, “There is no need for the sun. We have defeated God, produced this blaze of light under the clouds, and we don’t need the sun.”
People who live principally without benefit of sunshine are not usually very healthy; they are pretty pale; inclined to wilt after a little while; they lose their backbone; they become soft and flabby — because dependence is being placed upon the artificial generation of a little light and there is virtually no experience of the sunshine. The efforts of the human mind may well be compared to this business of making and striking matches. How much easier it would be to let the clouds dissolve and the sun shine so that we could put away the toys and begin to live in the enlightened state of consciousness on earth.
We see the desirability of this and we also see our own responsibility with respect to it, because a focus of enlightened consciousness must be allowed to emerge through the veil into the darkened state of human consciousness as it is presently known. For this to happen there must be some hearts which are sufficiently purified to let it occur, some human hearts in living human beings here on earth. This is what occurred insofar as the heart of the individual Jesus was concerned. Here was a pure heart, and the enlightened state of consciousness in focus came forth by reason of His presence on earth. Very few were aware of it. Why? Because of their own impure hearts, because of the cloud that was maintained between that light shining on earth and the consciousness of those concerned. There was something there. A lot of people recognized that there was something there, but those who really saw what was there, at least even to a small extent, could probably be counted on the fingers of one hand. Regardless of all this, the focus of enlightenment came forth and was present within the scope of the consciousness of mankind. It was isolated there pretty well, but there was established a basis for what should occur somewhere, sometime, in the days to come. A door had been opened, a door through one single person who had actually demonstrated that what was necessary to human experience could be known on earth. The door was opened. It was also made plain that what actually was required was not that this should merely occur through one person but that it should occur through a number, through what may be referred to as a body of people, so that the focus of enlightened consciousness might come forth from the Father and come into the world in this fashion.
This coming forth was actually something that could be said to be inevitable by reason of what was done through this one man. We are associated with that inevitability. Some of you know something about it; some of you know that there is really no choice insofar as you are concerned. There are those who may still imagine that they have some sort of choice and try to exercise it, but I thank God that there are those present here this evening, and in other places, who have discovered for themselves as individuals the inevitability of what is happening, what is happening in their own experience. It simply cannot be any other way; we have no choice. As was said long ago by the One who brought that focus of enlightenment into the world, “I am the way.” There is only one way. We do not know what that way is until we reach a point where we discover that there is no alternative. “I am the way.” The individual himself is the way, and you can’t slip out from yourself. Only when you do not know that do you imagine that there are alternatives.
Here is the enlightened state of consciousness beginning to come into the world. It isn’t produced by anything that human beings can do in the darkened state. It comes down from God out of heaven; it comes from above. Again, as the Master put it, “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world.” This is the way it happens. It doesn’t happen because human beings try to be good, try to conform to some code of ethics, try to fulfil the rules and regulations drawn up by some religious or political body. Here is something that is coming into the world that was not in the world before it came in, and it comes into the world because there are those who are in position to let their hearts be purified sufficiently so that it happens. The purification of the heart relates to the fact that the heart can no longer control what it is that finds expression in the individual’s living. The spirit of God controls, rightly, and it can do so only when the heart is pure, only when the emotions are not governing the individual’s behavior. There are those who have supposed that if emotion were not governing one’s behavior there would simply be a cold and calculating state of affairs. Is it to be imagined that the spirit of God is cold and calculating? I heard tell that it was really the spirit of love.
So when the heart is pure the spirit is known, the state of enlightenment begins to emerge in the darkness. That state of enlightenment is then present in the darkness. The light shines in the darkness but the darkness comprehendeth it not. We find this to be very largely the case. But our concern is to let this enlightened state, in its focused essences, emerge into the level of earthly consciousness, into the level where heretofore it has been dark. This emergence is as the sun shining in his strength. There is no comparison possible between the little matches struck by the human intellect and the shining of the sun. Here is the real stature, dwarfing into nothingness all the efforts, all the supposed dazzling brilliance of the human intellect and its great achievements. How many would be willing to acknowledge this as being so? Precious few.
We become aware of the nature of the responsibility which we carry and of the stature which is known as we carry that responsibility. Jesus knew what He was talking about. He knew far more than He was able to say. He could have provided all that was necessary to permit the enlightened state of consciousness to be restored on earth if He had been allowed to do it. He had the stature. He had the ability — but this is something that could not be imposed upon human beings, and yet it set the stage for the inevitable fulfilment with which we are now associated. It is now absolutely inevitable, and it may be said that human beings, all, must reach a point where they either take it or leave it. That much choice is still there. But what is to happen will happen, whether anyone likes it or not, and we find ourselves in our own experience increasingly associated with this sense of inevitability.
It is not a matter of what is pleasing or displeasing. From our standpoint, if we associate ourselves with the enlightened state of consciousness, so that the focus of it, in our own experience, may come into the world, all human inclinations cease to have any meaning whatsoever. Of course all these things come out of the hereditary past, and in various ways we are inclined this way and that. If our inclinations are to govern then the heart is impure. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world to do something. I’m here to do something and what I do has no bearing at all upon what my human inclinations may be. Judge not!
Just provide the focus of enlightenment; then the question is asked, and let everybody answer the question in their own way. This has been my attitude. I have asked the question and I abide by the answers that have been given. Sometimes it takes years for a person to come to the point of really giving an answer, one way or another. There is a good deal of dithering in human nature, you know, and people sit on the fence as long as they can; but that fence gets sharper and sharper, more and more uncomfortable. Praise the Lord! Though people fall off one side or the other it is easier just to climb down. And you do that, really, not of your human volition anymore. You climb down on the right side of the fence. Something compelled, and we may praise God for that compulsion. Here is the evidence of the enlightened state in focus beginning to emerge by reason of you, so that you begin to be aware for yourself: “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world.”
To come into the world, obviously you had to have some equipment. You had to have a physical body; thank God for your parents! You had to have a mind and a heart; thank God that this is part of the development of the physical organism on earth. All this to provide you with a means for coming into the world, to bring the enlightened state of consciousness into the darkened state of human consciousness. To the extent that we do bring this enlightened state with us it comes into the darkened state because we are not separate from human consciousness — there is a wholeness here. Human consciousness in totality is not really made up of little individual states of consciousness; it is one whole, differentiated into individual experience. Now we begin to have a consciousness of this wholeness, because this is known as there is experience of the enlightened state. The enlightened state knows the truth; the truth is wholeness. If we don’t know the meaning of wholeness in our own experience we don’t know the truth. But the truth is known by reason of this focus of enlightened consciousness which is emerging through the veil into the darkened state of human consciousness the other side of the veil.
We begin to look at things right side up instead of upside down. We’re not looking up to see something coming down to us. We are up and we are coming down into the world to bring that enlightened state of consciousness into the world, and it is this focus which is the essential requirement for the inevitable fulfilment of what it is that is happening on earth. This obviously is something that has never occurred before — it is without precedent. We see little hints in the past, when it could have occurred, but it never did. Now it comes to a point where it inevitably must occur; there is no more time. Time shall be no more; there is a cutoff point. While time periods in the cosmic sense may be seen to be vast, and this time period relative to what has been happening in human experience to be quite short, nevertheless it can’t be allowed to continue forever. There is a cutoff point: thus far and no further. And we approach that cutoff point. If we actually do participate in the focus of enlightened consciousness it is natural for us to rejoice: “Rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them.” But woe unto the earth, woe unto the darkened state, because the darkness is being dissolved. So let the darkness go. The darkness goes automatically, doesn’t it, when the light is brought to be present; and we share this responsibility in these days, and in the days to come. Holiness to the Lord, glory to God. This is the reason for our presence on earth. The light is come. Acknowledge it and let it be so in your momentary experience, to the glory of God.
Behold, the focus of enlightened consciousness is in the world, the shepherd of the sheep is in the world once more; and the sheep hear his voice. And there is a remarkable transformation. Just as you have found yourselves, as sheep, hearing the shepherd's voice, so that you might come to the point of participating in the expression of the shepherd, so also is it with others who may initially think of themselves as sheep but who find, amazingly enough, that they are part of the shepherd. So the voice of the shepherd increases in volume on earth, the sounding of the Tone is loud and clear; and because of that the sheep, the remnant, hear that voice and come home. And behold, as they come home they are transformed also. And the glory of the Lord shines round about in the fulfilment of the purposes of God in the restoration of man to this true state of man. Glory to God in the highest! Holiness to the Lord!
© emissaries of divine light
Unprecedented Change
Martin Exeter January 15, 1984
The sound of the voices, the organ and the piano fades, but there remains an atmosphere created by the music, but more particularly by the spirit present in all concerned. This atmosphere provides an enfolding setting in which there may be an intensification of the flow of that spirit. Within this atmosphere there is a sense of easy agreement and natural friendship. It would seem that a veil has been dissolved to allow this easy and natural state to be the experience.
What is that veil which has obscured this state from general human experience for so long? One might find many words to describe what it is, but there is one in particular that emphasizes itself in my consciousness this morning, and that is the word accusation. It seems as though this is a basic attitude experienced by everybody with respect to others, and with respect to the world around them. Accusation. Constantly there is a flow of accusation. Individuals, we ourselves, have participated in this attitude with respect to our fellows. It is also seen on the larger scale of course: on the international scene nation accuses nation. As long as there is accusation the reality of agreement and friendship is impossible.
There is a rather familiar passage contained in the Old Testament of the Bible which would seem to have a certain amount of immediate application to the state of affairs on earth today. Because it is written in the Bible doesn't necessarily make it so, but one may find a lot of good sense recorded in the Bible, one way or another. It only becomes good sense when we see it as it relates to ourselves here and now. This passage comes from way back. It is contained, in fact, in the 6th chapter of Genesis, the 5th verse: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."
One might say, "Well there is an accusation!"—this God somewhere was accusing human beings of this. I think you recognize that the statement may have some little application in these days too. But taking it out of the religious context, what was actually being said here was that if there was a clear-seeing eye the fact would be apparent that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. I think the present tense could be put in there, but let's look at another verse a little further on here: "The earth also was corrupt before God..." This was the fact of the matter. "...and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth..." The clear-seeing eye saw the fact. "...and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." You may recall that these particular statements were made immediately before what was called the flood. In other words, by reason of the state of affairs described as wickedness in man, certain effects put in an appearance. There was a rather devastating deluge which naturally followed the state of affairs in human beings.
We find ourselves in a situation in these days where there is a momentum building toward a rather devastating experience for the human race. This is defined in the consciousness of most people as thermonuclear war, and there is clearly enough a movement in that direction. It is consequent upon the fact of what was described here as wickedness. The state of affairs in human minds and hearts was such that it would produce the result at that time of a devastating flood. Now again it builds toward a similar conclusion, perhaps not necessarily with water this time, but more likely with nuclear fire. In any case, it all stems from the state of consciousness in human beings, the state of their minds and hearts.
This is a matter that is recognized, I suppose, in a collective way at least: that the world is in the condition it is because human beings made it that way. There wasn't some malign deity somewhere who imposed all this upon human beings. We ourselves have chosen deliberately to make it this way, and we see the end result—and "end" is a pretty good word for this—in the possibility, or rather the inevitability, of thermonuclear war at some point, as long as human minds and hearts continue to function on the same old basis. This would indicate that there is rightly the necessity of what might well be called an unprecedented change. It obviously is unprecedented, because exactly the same thing was happening back here at the time indicated in the record which I read. However accurate that may be, it is an indication of something. It is a warning, shall we say. If we only see the warning now, it is a little late in the day. But because of the state of human minds and hearts there was a buildup toward something very destructive. In view of the fact that there is now again a buildup toward something very destructive, it is evident that the change required in human minds and hearts has not occurred. Therefore, if it does occur it will be quite unprecedented. There is nothing in the past to indicate what it would be, because it hasn't happened. The only way to find out what it would be is to let it happen, and the course of intelligence would seem to indicate that it might be profitable for us to let it happen.
So presumably intelligent concern, then, would be as to what is required to allow this unprecedented change in human minds and hearts to happen, that there may be the passing of what was here described as wickedness, the cause of the ultimate destruction. If the reason for the ultimate destruction is not changed the ultimate destruction will not be changed either, and this relates to human minds and hearts. "Well," I think probably most people would say, "yes, that's true. Our ancestors of course had something to do with it. They behaved in ways that have provided us with a rather horrendous heritage." But on the other hand, I don't know that we would exclude all those other people out there—particularly the bad people, whoever they are, who have been multiplying the state of wickedness, with the necessity for the end result of that.
So, yes, we can look around. We can see that human beings do behave rather foolishly and irrationally and so on. Well that's very interesting, but it doesn't change anything, does it? It doesn't change anything as long as one is oneself accusing other people of behaving in this way. "It was all the fault of my ancestors. It was all the fault of my bad childhood. It was all the fault of something or other now present in my environment. So-and-so and so-and-so and so-and-so—they are the trouble. Let them change their minds and hearts. Let the unprecedented change happen in them. But not in me, please." Yet there is only one person in whom it may happen, and that is oneself. One may recognize that possibly all these other characters in our world need to change, but how are you going to bring it about? Well the answer to that is: You are not, at least not using the orthodox methods which have been the basis for the function of human beings heretofore. That is wickedness. And the attitude of accusation provides a focus point in relationship to wickedness. That is the wickedness. That is what produces the results which we see, and one can only face that in oneself.
We are well aware of having been accused by other people of this, that and the other thing. Well, people are free to make accusations, of course; they have been doing it right along. But the question is: What do we do? What do I do, specifically? If someone accuses you or me or anyone of something or other, what is the attitude? You put up your defenses. You seek some way of justifying whatever you are being accused of. That falls right into the trap, because you are accepting the attitude of accusation in somebody else, as though that was a valid attitude. It isn't! It is an attitude which brings human beings to destruction. It has been doing it regularly, in every generation. Everybody dies, after all, and the accusations that might have been emanating from that person cease. Well one may be most thankful for that; it's a good reason to die. But how about living? Is there not a reason for living? Living is impossible as long as accusation prevails, and the accusation that prevails is that which finds expression through oneself, regardless of what is happening to everybody else. If other people are accusing you of things, justifiably or unjustifiably, what are you going to do about it? Get into the posture of battle? That is usually what is done, isn't it? Everybody fights. It is interesting, isn't it, that everybody takes the attitude that it is justifiable to fight. They are fighting for good things, of course. Oh everybody fights for good things. But isn't thermonuclear war fighting? Isn't that just a sophisticated form of fighting? And that is what occurs ultimately, by reason of the wickedness that is present in everybody.
Everybody takes the attitude that they are justified in fighting, usually fighting evil. But who is fighting evil? Those in whom every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts is only evil continually. Evil is fighting evil here, busy about it, and of course ultimately I suppose it just destroys itself in a great big bang somewhere along the way. This is not merely looming over the horizon either; it's a little bit closer at hand than that. Yet everybody goes on in the same old way, in the way which has produced this horrendous situation. It is assumed—and this doesn't seem to me to be very intelligent—that by continuing in the same old way you are going to solve the problem. Function in that old way produced the problem; at least this is defined as a problem in human minds and hearts in their present state, so that they think that the problem has to be solved. We have all had that idea: "We all have our problems, after all, and we have to find a solution to them." Isn't that the general attitude? I don't think that is necessary at all. Why not just let the problem be dissolved? Why does one have to try to solve it? Trying to solve problems multiplies problems. Are there any less problems in the world now than there were a century ago? I would say there are vastly more, partly because there is a vastly greater population of people trying to solve problems. Trying to solve problems perpetuates problems.
This is the way that human beings go. They don't see any other way, apparently. In times past we hadn't seen any other way. But somewhere it began to dawn—and this wasn't because of our great brilliance; it was almost by chance, I suppose—it began to dawn that the way to go was not the way we had been going. If you continue in the way that you had been going you end up dead. You end up individually dead of course—that's to be expected; everybody accepts that as being the natural outcome—but now we see, collectively dead too. Well, in one sense I suppose, if human beings have proclaimed their unwillingness to be anything else but wicked, then it would be good riddance! Is that a harsh thing to say? Well we have a view that perhaps it is not necessary to come to that point of ultimate elimination. Something can be done about it if I do something about it. Not if the other fellow does something about it. Everybody accuses. "Get it away from myself! It's somebody over there who is producing all these problems." But it isn't! If I have a state which I imagine to be filled with problems, I am responsible.
An accusation, incidentally, that has been leveled often at Emissaries is that they are participating in a cult which has to think a certain way, according to something that is imposed upon them. You know in your own experience that that has never been so. The idea has always been to take responsibility for oneself. There is no guru somewhere who is going to tell everybody what to do. That would be a state of slavery, wouldn't it? No, we have to discover what we should do individually speaking, and we can never discover that if our minds and hearts are cluttered up with the residue of accusation. Would it be possible to live without making accusations? I would put that another way: Could one live while still making accusations? The answer to that is definitely no: one will die for sure, and one will go through all the preamble to that final experience.
People are trying to get health, for instance. So they deliver their bodies to the doctor's office and say, "You fix it," as though they had no responsibility in the matter. The doctor can't fix it. He may, if he is unwise, encourage the individual to feel that he can fix it, and that all the person has to do whenever any troubles appear is to come back to his office. Well that is good for business, I suppose, but it isn't being honest, because the one thing that a doctor can do is to encourage the individual to begin to take responsibility for himself. Each person lives more closely with his own body than anyone else. That's right, isn't it? And yet we pitch it into the doctor's office and expect him to fix it up. He's never lived with it! Surely we know, really, if we start to be honest, what it is that is required.
So there is an unprecedented change in consciousness needful. People are inclined, I have noted, to fight tooth and nail against letting it happen. Well they have the habit. It's hard to kick the habit, the habit of behavior that has been one's own for however long it may be. Yet without unprecedented change there is the expectation of obliteration. That change can come in one of two ways. It can come destructively—if we are gotten rid of, then that's fine; that particular person who indulges in accusation is then gone; you can no longer indulge in that anymore. That's good! But one may cease to accuse. One may choose to do this cold turkey. Most people don't like cold turkey (and some don't like it hot either!), but rather say, "Well yes, I'll work on this. It will take a little while, of course, because I have the habit of accusation. I always feel put down by the way other people accuse me, and I feel therefore under the necessity of justifying myself." Well that is being controlled by accusation—in such case, somebody else's accusation. But we are also controlled by our accusation of other people. And as long as accusation controls we are not in position to experience the unprecedented change that is needful. It has been common practice: everybody does it, after all, and everybody assumes that they are justified in doing it. As we see, accusation generates fighting, fighting for one's rights. What's the right? To accuse. That is the most fatal thing that anybody can do: to fight for your right to accuse other people of doing things which are destructive to oneself.
There is only one person who can destroy me, just one person—that is me. And the same thing is true of everybody else on the face of the earth. "Oh no. That can't be so. There are millions of people who are starving on earth. Are they responsible?" Let's not talk about them. We are talking about "me," oneself. Isn't this an excellent way that has been devised by devious human minds to get the issue away from oneself? If you indicate that something is to happen with respect to yourself, then whoever you say that to—and presumably I am saying it to you now—is inclined to say, "Well what about those people out there? What about all these other people?" Insofar as we are concerned in this moment, in this setting, they are a figment of fancy. They don't really exist. What exists is what is here, what is now, exactly where we are. And each individual rightly assumes responsibility for letting accusation be cast down.
I think it is said somewhere in the Bible that the devil—whoever he might be, and if you need one—is the accuser. That's his name: the accuser and the destroyer. Those two terms are synonymous. You can't accuse without destroying, and the first person you destroy is yourself. The attitude of accusing destroys yourself, because you are failing thereby to face the fact of your own wickedness, if we could define it that way. And the mere idea that people have that they fall into the "good" classification doesn't dissolve their participation in the state of wickedness. Wickedness contains both the good and the bad, both the white hats and the black hats. And it's easy to change hats. People are doing it all the time, aren't they? We do it ourselves. No, until this one thing is faced there can be no unprecedented change. And if there is no unprecedented change in human minds and hearts the result is absolutely fatal for everyone. So it seems sensible to give at least some consideration to the possibility of letting unprecedented change occur. But it will not occur until the attitude of accusation is dissolved.
I suppose, to start with, a person has to be alert. The habit is there, after all. It's like any other habit, the habit of smoking or eating chocolates or whatever it may be, drugs, whatever. The urge comes to accuse: "Well I can justify that that person is really causing me to be a victim. He is victimizing me." As we well know, no one can be a victim unless he accepts that state for himself, unless he says with respect to himself, "I am being victimized." If he says that, then he will be saying, "I accuse someone or some circumstance, something or other, for victimizing me, making me into a victim." No one can make anyone else into a victim; it must be done by the person himself—by "me." If I am going to assume the attitude that I am being victimized, I do it; that is my responsibility.
We see a lot of weak sisters around, don't we? Is that an accusation, or merely an observation of people who are inclined to say constantly, "Someone is victimizing me; poor me!"? And then, of course, if you take that attitude, you are still very childish, therefore you need mommy. And there are various mommies around that have been created by victims; the government of course is one of them. "The government will bail me out." That's childish! I am responsible for me. The government isn't, the doctor isn't; I am responsible for me. And that is true of each one if the unprecedented change begins to happen. But as long as you can find a devil, someone to accuse, you are playing the role of the devil, the accuser; and according to all accounts, the place of the devil's residence is hell. Does it prove itself out? Of course it does. Human beings find themselves in various states of hell. But it's always somebody else's fault, isn't it? You've got to accuse somebody else. "I couldn't possibly be responsible."
Some people every year get struck and killed by lightning. Could the individual who is struck and killed by lightning say, "I was responsible for that"? Of course, legally speaking, that is an act of God. It is peculiar, isn't it, that acts of God are always destructive. That's an absolute lie! If you have a hurricane or a flood or a fire or something, that's an act of God—an earthquake or whatever. It isn't at all. These things are generated by what is present in human beings. The wickedness of man is great in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually, until this unprecedented change begins to happen.
Well you know how, individually speaking, there has been an inclination to object to the unprecedented change. "I don't like it." Is that a motivating factor, really? Is that a valid motivating factor?—"I don't like it." What needs to happen? What needs to happen rightly happens, regardless of human likes and dislikes. The question is: Can the facts be faced? Can we see what it is that needs to dissolve in oneself? And I don't know any other words that can put the finger on it more accurately than the attitude of accusation. The whole world functions on the basis of accusation. Accusation is not the truth of the matter; it obscures the truth of the matter. It provides a veil, so that nobody can get along with anybody else. There is no agreement, and precious little friendship of the genuine kind. And friends so quickly turn into enemies. Accusation. Stop it! That is the basic choice.
Everybody is trying to get you to accuse someone else. A friend of mine asked me the other day what I thought of Trudeau. As I recall, I said I thought he was a fine man. Oh, it's easy to find things wrong with Trudeau. Everybody is doing it, accusing him of everything under the sun. Someone may say, "Well that's the fact." All right, if it is the fact, it is the fact; but you don't need to accuse someone, that's the point. It is your own attitude that is the point, not what is the supposed fact with respect to somebody else. And there is always speculation and opinion and idea and belief—all this sort of stuff which keeps the person trapped in the state of accusation, in the state, one might say, of the devil: controlled, ruled, pushed this way and that by this habit of accusation, this arrogant view that one knows how things should be. And if they are not the way you think they ought to be you are going to accuse someone of spoiling your experience. We create our own experience, and if we assume the attitude of accusation, then the experience we create will have a goodly measure of hell in it. Of course! Cause, effect. Sow that kind of a seed, reap the harvest. That is the fact, that's what happens. That is the way things are. And it says it like it is, very often, in the Bible, I find. It said it like it is in the passage which I read.
So we share the opportunity of letting this unprecedented change occur, and we are not all that willing to be backed into some hypothetical corner in order to cause us to justify an accusation. We needn't do it. If other people like to indulge themselves in accusation, well that's their privilege, but we don't have to go along with it. Our concern is to see things the way they are and act on the basis of the way things are, not on the basis of the way that things are not—on the basis of accusation, in other words—nor on the basis of the way that human beings would like them to be.
As you well know, I have been giving services for years. Why? Oh, to entertain you. I hope not! This isn't entertainment—although we find that when we stop accusing, stop having that attitude, everything becomes very entertaining, delightful; we enjoy ourselves, we have fun! And so it goes. We rejoice in the privilege of letting this unprecedented change increasingly occur in our own experience. If others who are awakening to the same thing will share the process, we rejoice; but they have their own choices to make, everybody has. We don't, certainly, impose anything upon anybody else. Let each one make his or her own choice and receive the results of it. That's the way things are.
So I rejoice in this opportunity this morning of considering these things in a particular way, that we ourselves, as individuals, may let something happen of unprecedented change in ourselves. Then the world will change. That's the only way it will change in a way that permits a creative experience rather than a destructive one. So, surely, the creative experience is what is really needful, and regardless of accusations, it will happen by reason of those who do not align themselves with the accuser.
© emissaries of divine light
The Altar And The Shekinah #2
Martin Cecil January 10, 1971 p.m. 100 Mile House, B.C.
It's 21 degrees below zero this evening and probably it will be quite a bit lower by morning. I was wondering, at what temperature should one stop serving the Lord? This is not just a facetious remark but I have noticed all too often, when services are being held in various places, that a poor attendance was reported because of the weather. I suppose there may be justifiable occasions when drifts of snow are impassable, but generally it's just a matter of a little discomfort, and I think it's rather revealing of people as to what it is that stops them from doing the thing they know should be done.
Wonderful words are recorded as having taken form through our Master's lips a long time ago, but as with all words of truth they are ageless. This is from the 14th chapter of the Gospel according to John, beginning with the 1st verse.
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. “Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. “Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. “Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?”
There were a large number of people who knew Jesus by sight and who had listened to His words, who were impressed by Him in various ways. The disciples themselves were included amongst this number of course. They had been close to Him, and yet it is clear that they had never really seen Him, or at least Thomas and Philip hadn't. Maybe one or two of the others had. There was a questioning as to the way, and Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life”—I am Shekinah. This had not been adequately seen. The mere fact that an outer form of a man had been noted by many people did not mean that He had really been seen. He said of Himself: “I am Shekinah, the Shekinah of the Father; therefore he that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” He that hath seen Shekinah hath seen the Father; not he that hath seen the physical body, although that might be included for those who had really seen Him. Here was the Word made flesh, the individual body of the Son of God on earth. Many people claim to believe in that but evidently very few have really seen Him, for if they had they would have recognized the truth which was being exemplified as it related to themselves. There is no intent to detract from the beautiful revelation of Shekinah on earth if we realize that as it was with Him so should it be with us. Here was the altar of the Lord at which there might be worship of God. All that He said, all that He did, proclaimed the truth of this altar and the form of its manifestation on earth, the body of the Son of God to take form, to be the intercessor, to be in fact the savior of mankind.
The altar of the Lord is being rebuilt on earth in this day, the body of the Son of God coming again into form in the world. Who has really seen this? So many claim to have seen it with respect to Jesus, or at least the story about Jesus; but how little meaning that has if the real body is taking form on earth and is not seen! How many of you have seen the way, the truth and the life, by reason of this body which is taking form? have seen Shekinah, so that you could say, “I have seen the Father”? The Father is here through Shekinah—through the Fire that Burns, the Light that Glows, and the Cloud of Glory. Shekinah can only be known when the form, the body, of the Son of God, the altar of the Lord, is present, to whatever extent it is present. According to the ancient story, even when it was present as a little baby there were those who rejoiced and saw. At what point shall a person recognize that the body of the Son of God is present on earth? Does it require that anyone should wait: not yet, not yet? If not yet, when? From the standpoint of Jesus, there came a time when He initiated His ministry in the public sense, but wasn't He present before that? Hadn't He been present on earth for about thirty years?
Those who know Shekinah through the body of the Son of God on earth are Shekinah. If you know the truth, you are the truth. If you are merely looking for it, expecting to find it one day, you do not know the truth. The only way to know the truth is to be the truth, and the only way to know Shekinah is to be Shekinah. How vividly are you aware that this body—composed of how many members? what difference does it make?—is the body of the Son of God, the body of Shekinah? This is the way it's built. This is what it is. Do you know it? Do you really know that, that the Father is revealed on earth through the Shekinah of His body? That Shekinah is not separate from His body. The Shekinah builds the body and shines through the body. What do you see?
Some people see what they call a ministry. They talk about “the ministry.” There are those who say, “I am part of the ministry.” Others have said, “I am leaving the ministry.” Some others on occasion, when they have had a fit of self-activity, say, “I am not leaving the ministry.” But what is the ministry? Ministry is a function, isn't it? There must be someone present who ministers if there is a ministry. Are you the one who is present, that ministers? You are not then the ministry, are you? You are the minister. Of course, when speaking to those who do not understand, who are still caught in the limitations of the subhuman consciousness, it may be right to say something about a ministry; but those who are associated with whatever it is should know better than to speak of the ministry in this way, as though it were something you could join or leave. It's like a department of government: if one has the qualifications one can be hired and be a member of that particular ministry. If one can be hired, one can be fired too, or one may resign. One can come and go in such things. I think the word is useful to people because they feel they are not stuck: if the going gets a bit rough they can quit, if it's just a ministry. But what we are really talking about, and seeking to experience, is the body of the Son of God.
Nobody can have a separate will in the body of the Son of God. There is the one will, the Will of the Father, which is the expression of Shekinah. One cannot know this truth as long as a personal will is maintained. People are able to find fancy reasons for doing what they do without regard to the Will of the Father. Of course the vast majority of people never even consider that there could possibly be the Will of the Father; just my will, the personal will. We have a growing consciousness of the reality of Shekinah. We know Shekinah just to the degree that we are that, so that there is no separation, no separate will certainly.
The body of the Son of God built by Shekinah for the expression of Shekinah—no other reason for being! He that has seen this, not just as a fanciful theory but as a present fact, has seen the Father. This body, the body of the Son of God on earth, reveals the Father, just as the body of Jesus did; but obviously, to see this truth there must be a seeing which looks beyond the physical form. Many knew Jesus as a physical form but never saw Him, never saw Shekinah. We know that only as the altar of the Lord is built on earth, is there a true place of worship on earth, does it become possible for the Temple of God to be built on earth, for mankind to be restored as the Temple of God—filled with Shekinah, built by Shekinah, Shekinah manifesting through the altar of the Lord, through the body of the Son of God. Those who actually participate in this are themselves Shekinah, the evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells in His body.
When you consider the body of the Son of God in all the emerging ramifications of its form, of which you all know something, you know what is closest to you best. Many people think they know what is further away better, but it's not true. What you see closest to you is your vision, rather than your imagination. So many people think they see something beautiful if they look out a little further, but unless we see something beautiful here in our immediate experience of this body we only imagine it out there. It is like people who are imagining how beautiful Jesus was away out there long, long ago. But the truth is here now; the body of the Son of God is here now. Do you respect it? Do you behold Shekinah because of it? Or do you just see it as nothing particularly out of the ordinary, just as many people saw Jesus as nothing particularly out of the ordinary. What do you see? There has been a little tendency, when reading this passage that I read at the beginning of the service, to feel self-righteous: What was the matter with Thomas and Philip that they were so dumb? What's the matter with us that we're so dumb?—because we are in exactly the same position now!
The body of the Son of God is taking form on earth because there are a few who know it, because they know Shekinah, because they are Shekinah—there is no other way of knowing it—are the evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells in form on earth. To those the body of the Son of God is beautiful, precious, because through it Shekinah is seen. Shekinah is the Minister, and there is a ministry because of the minister. The invitation is extended not to become a part of the ministry, whatever that is, but to become aware of being a part of the body of the Son of God—this! The fact of being proclaims that each one is a part of that body, but scarcely anyone has known it. “How shall we join the ministry?” This is a very conceited attitude of course, because “important I” is going to join the ministry, and the ministry of course is going to benefit by my presence. Join what? What is there to join? The very fact that a person can say, “I'm leaving the ministry,” or “I'm not leaving the ministry,” is an indication of the fact that there is a concept of joining something. You can only leave what you join, or not leave what you have joined. So the very way of expression reveals that the individual doesn't know what it is that is being offered, just as scarcely anyone had the faintest idea as to what it was that our Master was offering. They were all willing to join a ministry; but a ministry in this sense is some sort of an organization, isn't it? a soulless machine of some kind. Our concern is with the One who ministers.
The One who ministers is Shekinah. Our Master said, “I am Shekinah. I am the way, the truth, and the life. He that hath seen Shekinah hath seen the Father.” He was not saying, “He that hath seen my physical form has necessarily seen the Father.” No! When you look at the body of the Son of God taking form, what do you see? Just the form? Do you think that there is something wrong with the form? The form is composed, you know, of the people sitting next to you, and others as well. So you don't think much of this one or that one? You don't think much of the form of the body of the Son of God. You're hung up. You don't see Shekinah. If the body of the Son of God is here, if it is emerging, it is because Shekinah is here. There couldn't be any body without Shekinah. “Without him was not any thing made that was made.” How could one possibly come and go in the body of the Son of God? One either knows Shekinah because one is Shekinah or one knows nothing. One can mouth platitudes and follow out personal desires, and die!
Here are some other words of Shekinah: “He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” How much do we cling to our personal lives? How much can the things that happen supposedly in our personal lives throw us? How much can we be caused to deny Shekinah by the things that occur in our personal lives? We are associated with something, whether we have consciously realized it or not, that is absolute—it is what it is. Because this is so, the comings and goings of human beings don't change anything of what is. Such things change the experience of those concerned: finding one's life in the human sense is losing it in the divine sense. Now there isn't really any such thing as life in the human sense; there is only life in the divine sense. We talk about a distinction here because we are a little confused.
I had a very excellent letter of response recently from one of your number, who spoke of the original state as the experience of being unconsciously divine. Divine in that state wouldn't be a word, would it? It wouldn't be necessary, because there was nothing else. There was a consciousness of everything the way it was. There was no necessity to be consciously divine, because all concerned were divine and there wasn't anything else to be. There wasn't anything else to compare it to anywhere in the whole cosmos. In such a state, then, there is no need to utilize what have come to be known as religious terms: religious terms are just the contrast to the worldly state. If there isn't a subhuman state, then there is only the one true state. This is the fact of the matter now actually, but human beings don't know it. They think there is another state; they think there is another life which they can live here. But the fact of the matter is that the only life that is available to human beings is the life of Shekinah. “In him was life.” There isn't any other. We can squeeze it out of our own experience, but as long as any little bit of Shekinah's life is getting through we claim to be alive. That is Shekinah getting through. But when we have obliterated it all there is nothing; it's gone. We have lost our experience of life, our experience of Shekinah. So the little bit of life that gets through, that we try to juggle with to have our own way, is still the life of Shekinah, but because we are juggling with it we lose it.
So in the beginning all present on earth were unconsciously divine. After the fall, when a different experience had come into the consciousness of man, he was divinely unconscious; and human beings everywhere are quite unconscious of being divine. There is a state of being divinely unconscious, subhumanly conscious. Now the necessity is to become consciously divine; but when we become consciously divine we find that we are unconsciously divine, because there isn't anything else. So why use the word “divine”? It doesn't really describe anything, because it's all there is. Approaching the state of being once more unconsciously divine it takes some conscious doing, because we now have a contrast. We have experience of something else than what is divine, even though it only exists to us because of our experience of it. From the standpoint of reality it doesn't exist—just to us. But as long as we have to try to be divine we are not unconsciously divine, are we? When it is the natural thing, when we have the experience that this is what we are, we don't have to think about it and try to be divine; that's what we are.
This is knowing Shekinah, returning to a consciousness of the truth that there isn't anything else but the being of God. There never was. There never will be. We have been in a state of delusion, and in our initial faltering steps toward becoming consciously divine we have some very peculiar ideas, some very strange notions, which because they have become so familiar seem to be quite natural, when they are not at all. Our awareness must change. The nature of our very thinking processes must change. Perhaps some of the things I have said this evening seem difficult to grasp. Well don't try to grasp them; but essentially they are completely simple. The difficulty is that the mind has been following out certain ruts for millennia past and it doesn't like to get out of them.
The body of the Son of God is on earth. The very fact that it is on earth reveals the fact that Shekinah is here, because Shekinah creates the body of manifestation. And so the body emerges because of Shekinah. When we begin to know this, this body is seen with new eyes. It is the most precious thing conceivable to us. It would be beyond the bounds of imagination even to consider trying to separate ourselves from it. We do try to separate ourselves from it every time that we inject a personal will. We are saying in effect, “I want to keep my life, my human life”—my subhuman life actually. And on this basis I can keep it for a while. But I lose it, because it is not mine, in the subhuman sense. It is part of Shekinah, and it will never be disassociated from Shekinah. You can't get life away from Shekinah, which is really what people have been trying to do. “I want it for myself so that I can do the things that I think should be done.” Human beings spend their lives trying to extract life from Shekinah, and all they do is extract their own consciousness, their subhuman consciousness, from life, until it vanishes away out of experience. Being Shekinah, it is inconceivable that one could be anything else; and that's the truth of the matter, because one can't be anything else, at least not for very long.
Are you still inclined to ask that same question? First of all, “I don't know what the way is.” Shekinah is the way! “Shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” Have you been so long time with the body of the Son of God and have not seen Him? As I say, it is utterly inconceivable to a person who has actually seen the Father through Shekinah in the body of the Son of God to separate himself from that; it can't be done. I watch people coming and going, this way and that, swirling around, never having seen Shekinah. The altar of the Lord is being rebuilt on earth. I have a part to play in that, and that's my total concern. I am not really concerned with people as such, with their sufferings or anything else; just with this one thing: rebuilding the altar of the Lord that is broken down. It is the only thing that has any meaning whatsoever. If there are those who will associate themselves with this rebuilding of that altar, I receive them with rejoicing. I have patience, as most of you know, but fundamentally, if a person fools around and doesn't accept this priceless invitation, I don't care what happens to that person! Those of you who offer yourselves to Shekinah agree with me in this. Yes, there is patience, there is understanding, people are given time; but self-indulgence in personal nonsense is of no value, and those who undertake to follow out such courses are of no value to themselves or to anyone else. The body of the Son of God is taking form on earth because Shekinah is here. Because this is so, the whole world has the opportunity of making a choice. The time is at hand for everyone. It's here now for many.
I am deeply thankful to God that there are those who do know Shekinah and, because of this, permit the body of the Son of God to take form. There are many more who shall come to know. But let all of you remember that this, and this alone, has meaning, certainly insofar as I am concerned, and it must be so insofar as you are concerned. This does not encourage judgment of anyone but merely the acceptance of responsibility for oneself, so that the word may be truly spoken: I am Shekinah—the Fire that Burns, the Light that Glows, and the Cloud of Glory, present on earth, rebuilding the altar of the Lord that is broken down, and shining round about.
© emissaries of divine light
